Friday, May 29, 2026

Photo: U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola addresses a crowd during a meet and greet in Petersburg on May 26, 2026. Peltola is running for U.S. Senate. (Taylor Heckart/KFSK) Former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) visited Petersburg, Alaska Tuesday in her campaign to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). Peltola addressed a group of more than fifty people at Petersburg’s Alaska Native Brotherhood John Hanson Sr. Hall as part of a one-hour meet and greet. She encouraged residents to get out and vote this year. “So many of the things that we are working on in Alaska just become political footballs for people in the lower 48 or some administration, and we’re better than that. We’re bigger than that. We are going to put our foot down and not be used as a political football.” During her speech, Peltola emphasized supporting elders, children, and addressing affordability. Peltola’s campaign told KFSK she was not available for questions from local media during her visit. Local assembly member James Valentine says Peltola made time to talk to local leaders about a wide range of issues before the event. Valentine says he spoke with her about outmigration in the region. “Me, as a younger assembly member and a young, I guess, community leader, I asked her, and just more of stating, just my concerns about the younger generation retention in Southeast Alaska, and then she’s from Western Alaska, and I know she feels the same way.” That same day, Peltola also hosted a meet and greet in Wrangell, Alaska on a neighboring island. This week, she visited other Southeast Alaska communities including Ketchikan and Sitka – and she will be in Haines on Friday. The Senate primary takes place in August, and the general election is in November. This story was provided by KFSK’s Taylor Heckart. An aerial view of the Yukon River as it breaks up downstream of Beaver, Alaska on May 10, 2026. (Courtesy U.S. National Weather Service Alaska) The thick winter ice of the Yukon River has washed out to the Bering Sea, signaling the end of breakup season on the Yukon Delta. Last week, communities along the Yukon River experienced ice jam related flooding. For some, it was among the most severe breakup impacts in recent memory. The communities of Holy Cross and Pilot Station saw water enter homes and in some cases, cover airport runways, but as of Tuesday evening, significant ice jams close to the mouth of the Yukon gave way and the water began to recede. Mike Ottenweller is a meteorologist with the Alaska Pacific River Forecast Center. He has been part of the River Watch team doing daily aerial surveys, tracking the Yukon River’s breakup. “We watched the very last little bit of the ice run that was at one point 40 miles long, and maybe even if you go back a couple weeks, 90 miles long at some points, but we watched that clear out to the coastal areas and past those last villages and making its way out to the Bering Sea.” Overall, he says this year’s Yukon River breakup trended toward dynamic and was about five days later than average, which was expected coming out of this year’s frigid winter. Laura Havameister with the State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management says though the flooding is receding, the recovery process is still ongoing. She points to Alukanuk, which experienced flooding on some roadways. “We could not make it into town, unfortunately, just because of that flooding. So we’re working with the city manager and with the SAR team to really understand those, those inundation areas.” From shuttling the team from the airstrip to providing on-the-ground updates, Havameister with the state says the community aspect of the operation is a powerful one. The team concluded their aerial surveys for the 2026 Yukon River breakup on Tuesday. This story was provided by KYUK’s Samantha Watson.   Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up for our daily newsletter today. Download our NV1 Android or iOs App for breaking news alerts. Check out today’s Native America Calling episode Friday, May 29, 2026 — The Menu: Dawn Butterfly Café, camas restoration, and the Indigenous food pyramid